


the streets of san francisco

by greywardenblue



Category: October Daye Series - Seanan McGuire
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Simon and Patrick are Yearning and Subtly Bisexual, Simon raises Toby AU, is there a Tybalt cameo? you tell me ;), one line in this is autobiographical. kudos for finding it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:28:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26702953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greywardenblue/pseuds/greywardenblue
Summary: Simon takes his daughter into the human San Francisco to meet an old friend.
Relationships: October "Toby" Daye & Simon Torquill, Patrick Lorden & Simon Torquill
Comments: 23
Kudos: 29





	the streets of san francisco

**Author's Note:**

> alternate summary, by Zahri:
> 
> "Toby gets to meet her soon-to-be Other Daddy! Simon and Patrick get to make eyes at each other over Toby's head!  
>  Tybalt gets to glare at the whole lot of them!"

There was a man playing the flute on the sidewalk, and October slowed to listen. Papa only glanced down for a moment to figure out what she was looking at, then he laughed and stopped with her. “Oh, why not. This is one of my favorite songs.”

October listened in awe, and she only looked up when Papa nudged her shoulder. He was holding a handful of human coins. “Go put these in his hat, if you like the song.” October nodded, then took the coins and ran up to the man playing. She stood there for a few moments, then dropped them into the half-full hat. The man bowed his head, but he didn’t stop playing. 

October ran back. “Papa,” she said. “Did you see? He looked at the hat to see what I put in it.”

Papa looked confused for a moment, then laughed and messed up her hair. “No, darling. He was bowing his head to say thank you. He can’t speak and play at the same time.”

“Oh.”

“ _So how can you tell me that you’re lonely_ …” Papa sang quietly, and nudged her shoulder to make her walk on. “ _And say for you that the sun don’t shine. Let me take you by the hand, and lead you through the streets of London…_ ”

“I’ll show you something to make you change your mind,” a man finished smoothly, stepping up next to Papa. October tensed, but Papa only took one look at the man before his face lit up in pure joy.

“Patrick!” Papa laughed and let go of October’s hand to fix the collar of the man’s shirt. “I would recognize you anywhere from this horrid jacket. It looks like you’ve been wearing it since the last century.”

The man looked flustered, and caught Papa’s hand to stop his fussing. They held each other for a moment before the other man let go and pulled back. “Simon, I beg you, stop trying to undress me in public. This jacket was perfectly fine the last time I walked on shore.”

“As I said. Last century.”

The man finally smiled at October and bent down to greet her. She watched him cautiously. He had light brown hair and kind blue eyes, although she was sure he was wearing illusions. “And you must be October. It is my pleasure to meet you. I am Patrick Lorden.”

October glanced up at Papa, but when he only nodded encouragingly, she curtsied as best as she could. “The pleasure is mine, sir,” she said very seriously. Patrick looked like he was fighting a smile. He seemed like a kind man, so it was easy for the next question to slip out. “Is it true you married a real mermaid?”

Patrick blinked in surprise for a minute and looked at Papa, who raised his hands defensively. “I said _Merrow_! I swear, I said _Merrow_.”

“Don’t swear on things you don’t mean, Simon,” Patrick said, but October saw he was still smiling. “As for your question, young lady: yes, it’s true that my dearest wife is of the Undersea. That is why I sadly cannot visit your father as often as we both wish.”

Papa rolled his eyes. “As if,” he said, feigning offense. “You’d never seek me out by yourself.”

Patrick made a small step closer and raised a hand towards Papa, then hesitated and pulled back. “You know that’s not true. I missed you, Simon. Anytime you call on me…”

Papa waved it off with a smile. “Please. I’m starving. Aren’t you, October?” She nodded enthusiastically. “Let’s go find some food.”

The three of them walked through the crowd together, with October holding Papa’s hand, and Patrick walking by Papa’s other side. She wasn’t sure what kind of event was going on, but there were musicians or men painted like statues on every corner, and her attention was drawn by every one of them.

“All this, but Heaven forbid two men link arms,” Papa murmured suddenly. “As long as I live, I’ll never understand humans.” October looked around to find what he was commenting on, but Papa walking next to her blocked her line of sight in that direction.

“They made their own rules, and we made ours. How do you think the great Daoine Sidhe look at me when they see me with my wife?”

“It just makes my blood boil, Patrick.”

“I know.”

October tried to look harder, but Papa tugged on her hand and the crowd moved on. In a few seconds, she forgot about the comments she didn’t understand anyway, and went back to watching her surroundings.

At the next corner, they all stopped so Papa and Patrick could disagree about where to go to eat.

“I know there was this place,” Papa insisted. “Somewhere around here…”

“Simon,” Patrick asked patiently. “When was the last time _you_ walked this way?”

“Well. It might have been a few decades, in truth. But surely…”

October spotted a large brown tabby sitting on a nearby window sill. That wouldn’t have been curious in itself, but October could swear that the cat was looking right at the three of them without looking away. She made faces at it for a few moments to see if it would do anything, but the cat didn’t move.

“Papa,” October said, tugging on his sleeve. “Papa, that cat is watching us.”

“Hm? Oh, you’re right.”

“Is it a fairy cat?” October asked without taking her eyes off of the cat.

“He might be. But it hardly matters. Even the mortal cats report to their king.” Papa squeezed her shoulder lightly, and she looked up at him. “October. The nobles of the court will tell you otherwise, but please, listen to me when I say this. Always be kind, to every cat. You would not want them as enemies.”

October nodded, accepting the wisdom.

“How’s that working out for you?” Patrick asked.

Papa smiled. “I offended a royal cat _once_ , and I still live in fear of meeting him in a dark alley.” He glanced towards the tabby, and October followed his gaze. It was still watching them. “But I hope he has enough honor not to rip my throat out in front of a child.” To October’s surprise, Papa bowed in the cat’s direction. “Come on, October. Let’s move on.”

When she looked back, she could just see the cat’s tail disappearing behind the corner.

“I know I remember it,” Papa said suddenly. “I’m going to ask someone. Patrick, watch October for a minute. Excuse me, sir!” And then he was hurrying off, and October was alone with Patrick.

“He’s in a good mood,” Patrick said quietly.

October smiled. “Papa is always in a good mood! He sings and laughs with me a lot!” She hesitated, then added, “But sometimes he’s sad about August.”

Patrick looked down at her in surprise. “He told you about August?”

October nodded. “Did you know her? Do you think she would have liked me?”

“I think…” Patrick cleared his throat. “Well, I think… August is very much her mother’s daughter.”

“I am Mother’s daughter as well,” October said.

“Yes, but you are… that is to say, you are not as…” Patrick trailed off. “Oh, thank Oberon. Did you find out anything?”

“It’s right on the next street,” Papa reported, returning from his quest.

One of his hands brushed against Patrick’s chest, and his other hand reached out to take October’s. October squeezed it, and all was right in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Let’s all agree not to look up what year that song came out, okay?  
> 2\. Any similarities or associations with my other fic, “the chances we missed”, are intentional and not at all lost on Simon and Patrick.  
> 3\. The only reason this is Simon & Patrick instead of Simon/Patrick is because it’s Toby POV and she doesn’t pick up on all of the Tension.


End file.
